


oh, but you and all your vibrant youth

by velthomerHoe



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 20:44:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18373757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velthomerHoe/pseuds/velthomerHoe
Summary: He sees his mothers nose, the curve of his sister's lips when she gifted the world with one of her rare smiles.





	oh, but you and all your vibrant youth

**Author's Note:**

> Seliph finally lets himself feel

He doesn't know him, he thinks, standing there behind Julia and Lord Saias. Seliph doesnt know Julius beyond the tragedy that made its home in his mind and corrupted him from the inside - _and now he will never get the chance to_ \- so it makes no sense for him to be intruding on such a private moment, meant to only be shared by those who were close with the deceased. But he owes it Julia to be here, he tells himself. He has to pay his respects to someone who shared his womb, his blood.

When it is time to for him to approach the body (cold and dead and unable to inflict anymore misery, he thinks to calm the tension in his shoulders, to sedate the unease coiling in the pool of his stomach), his train of thought stops. On the battlefield all he could see was suffering and the reason for that suffering in front of him grinning with a wickedness that was anything but human, and he did not allow himself to think more of it lest he gave in to his rage and let it blind him.

But standing above the unmoving body,  _h_ _is brothers unmoving body,_ he thinks faintly, as the unease turns to nausea, that it was for the best that he did not pay too close attention to the face behind that smile.

For now, he plainly sees his mother's nose, the curve of his sister's lips when she gifted the world with one of her rare smiles, and the same round eyes that stared back at him in the reflection of his mirror. If he had let himself notice all this in the heat of battle, would he have been able to take up his sword and do his part in weakening him and bringing him to his knees, let himself stand back and watch as Julia readied to make the final blow and bring about their shared brother's demise? 

A part of him, the one that is lauded as a golden hero, who vanquished a great evil and brought back peace, wants to say yes. What is the life of one compared to two? A life compared to a thousand? No matter the personal sacrifice, the crown prince Julius must die.

But another part of him, the one who remembers hearing of his father's death and the tears shed as he begged for his mother to return, who remembers the joy when he found out that he still had a family left in Julia, who underneath everything still longs for a family that will never leave him, wants nothing more than curl around the body - this boy this _child_ his baby brother, someone he should have protected the way that he protected Julia but he never got the chance to - and scream into the heavens until his voice is hoarse and the world knows of his grief.

**Author's Note:**

> oh i hope you didnt think this would be happy :y


End file.
